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Friday, February 20, 2004

In search of hearts and minds

The NHL launched the first salvo in the great PR war yesterday. A website dedicated to the issue of collective bargaining hit the wired world, with the NHL's point of view on the great debate.

Included so far is the Levitt report, a tidy little package of figures of doom, showing how many of the NHL franchises are just living at the edge of the abyss, one little nudge and they could all go tumbling down.

There's a section of collective bargaining basics, a handy little glossary so you can follow the various terms used in this epic struggle. Such as cost certainty, inflationary spirals and player costs, Interesting to note that the terms: greedy owners or players , scabs, union or Goodenow don't turn up in the glossary. Nor does any mention of that hard pressed shareholder the fan, appear.

And a section called understanding the CBA, which promises to give you everything you need to know about the CBA process (no doubt without that filter provided by that evil Bob Goodenow).

A little mutual admiration society exists as well with the likes of old buddy and former boss, David Stern giving him some comfort. Some football players drop by as well, extolling the virtues of the NFL way of doing things. Which apparently is the model Mr. Bettman would like one day to emulate. (minus that humongous cash flow of course).

Already described as nothing but propoganda, you can expect it to narrow it's focus as things progress or deteriorate (depending on your take on half full or half empty glasses). Expect the Players association to counter with their own fact site very shortly, so far the first victor in the great debate are website developers.